Released
by Invader Spyder
Summary: Okay. Focus. She has a twelve year old kid with blood loss and probably hypothermia by now, she isn't in the best of shape herself and the robot is defiantly near by...She cursed. Swearing, Violence, so Rated M.


Nothing amazing happened huh?

Bloody idiot doesn't know how lucky he is…

She glances down, gasping for breath.

He is too cold, hypothermia was probably starting to kick in, and he defiantly lost too much blood. He's leg is defiantly broken, arm dislocated and no doubt a few ribs are at least battered to hell as well.

She cursed.

And that damned robot was nearby, she could hear the rain clinking on it's metal shell. Whatever Medical Mechanica had done to him, they had done a damned good job since not only had the cobalt blue machine been able to get her guitar, but it had somehow gained more power.

More than enough to handle her.

He sobbed, head buried against her neck while shivers racked his soaked body. There were cuts in his clothes, revealing plenty of fresh gashes. More than enough to kill him if this kept up and defiantly more than she ever wanted to see. Damn it, what was he thinking? No, that's just it. He probably wasn't…then again, maybe it was her fault…

No. Focus. The past has happened, worry about the now, the future can wait.

She shushed him quietly, running a hand through his hair, wincing as her fingers felt more of the red liquid seeping from a wound hidden in his hair. Glancing around to check if they had been found yet, she quietly unzipped her jacket as best as she could before slipping his arms through the red vest, though it probably wouldn't do much difference.

If she could just get to her Vespa-

The thought was cut off as a loud splash nearby sent up a spray of mud. Rising slowly, the seven foot robot didn't immediately launch an attack like she had expected. It's TV-like monitor flared into life, lighting up whatever it was looking at and from this angle she could just make out…

Footprints.

Her footprints.

_Shit._

By the time she had bundled the kid into her arms, wrapping them around him protectively, the Medical machine had already tracked the muddy prints of her boots to the shelter of underneath of the bridge. She could just make out the sign on his monitor as the robot looked up and right at her, the eerily bright light glinting off it's metallic shell and…her guitar, it's hand grasping it's neck as if the instrument was an axe.

A Gear with two capital M's, one above the other.

Some kind of system hack? Were they controlling him remotely?

It didn't matter. She had been found.

Moving fast, the robot made a swing with a guitar that she easily dodged, edging backwards as it sent a kick her way. Damn it, she couldn't just put the kid down and fight it off, since it not only outmatched her but it would go for the kid. She wouldn't be able to get her Rickenbacker back either, with her hands full of suffering twelve year old.

This was a defiant lose-lose situation.

Another blow comes her way, but she easily dodges it again. Her booted feet slide in the mud, and for a second there is the fear she'll slip but she manages to stay upright. But only to have to avoid another mix of guitar swings, punches and kicks, all too easy for her to get out of the way of which means…

…it's playing with her…

Fuck. It knows she doesn't have much time left.

A low swipe with it's long metal leg nearly takes her down, a uppercut from it's free hand quickly follows it, then she realises her mistake. Those were feints, it was setting her up and now she was right where it wanted her.

Must of grown bored of playing with it's punch bag.

She cursed, noticing the Rickenbacker coming up with only enough time to turn her body, shielding him from the blow.

The force of the bass to her ribs sent her crashing to the floor, sliding through the mud and clutching the boy to her, spooning him as best as she could while he was curled into a ball, apparently trying to burying himself as far as he could into her red sweatshirt, face buried into her chest, small arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace.

The robot reaches down and grabs one of her booted feet, but she kicks out and lands a blow, sending the robot stumbling backwards, her leg sliding out of the footwear easily.

This was it…she had taken too much of a beating. Damn, felt like her body was on fire…But…gotta protect the kid…

What's that sound? Oh…

He's mumbling her name, over and over, stuttering and sobbing the mantra again and again.

"H-Ha…ru…ko, Haru…ko, Ha…ha…Haru…"

The voice grows quieter and less frequent.

Fuck. He's blacking out.

Pushing herself backwards with her feet, back finally meeting the wall, she can only watch as the robot rights itself, the light of it's screen blinding her, that damned symbol laughing at her failure. It marches forward, large hands grasping the Rickenbacker bass guitar till it's standing above the two of the, completely poised to finish her off like it was swinging a baseball bat, her skull being the ball.

Well isn't that just bloody ironic…

As for the kid…fuck…

Hell would be better for him than what those bastards were going to do to him. All because he had the misfortune of possessing a strong N.O. channel, they would inject him with every damn drug they can think of then rip his mind apart as they send things through his head, not bothered that they were turning a twelve year old into nothing more than a…a…body that lives because they make it.

A vegetable, dead but just not gone yet.

_And she had failed…_

The Rickenbacker was pulled back, no emotion came from the once friendly monitor.

_She had failed him…_

It began to descend, aiming right for her.

Tears leaked from her closed eyes, mixing with blood from her cut lips.

"I'm…s-so so…sorry, Nao…ta-kun…"

……

Nothing.

……

Still nothing.

…_that was…anti-climatic…_

The kid's stopped shivering, her name no longer being stuttered from his mouth.

For a second, she fears she lost him…

Then notices the guitar. Mere millimetres from her face.

_What…the…_

As if in slow motion, the robot takes a step back, dropping the guitar to the ground and it's hands to it's monitor. The Medical Mechanica symbol is no longer blaring it's existence, gloating at her. There is a red glow coming from the kids forehead, and she briefly fears it's something coming through. Then the glow fades and an uneasy, awkward moment fills up the one tense situation.

"C…Canti?" Haruko manages to get out.

The TV-like monitor snaps to hear, then down. The cobalt blue machine stumbles backwards with realization and horror at his own actions, what he's done to her…to Naota…So they had shut 'him' down completely and the…whatever it was in control. The robot hadn't known what had happened till he 'woke up'…

Damn, that's one hell of a wake up…

The robot grabs his monitor and for a split second, she thought he was going to rip it off. But instead he just falls to his knees. If he had any emotions and anyway to express them like her or the kid, he would be screaming, crying and shouting. Mourning. Grieving and self loathing.

"C-Canti…Canti….Canti!"

She's shouting at him, the kids still too quiet. The monitor looks up, she's managed to get his attention…crap her body hurts… no! The kid first…she has suffered worse, a hell of a lot worse…

"Your…a damned medical…robot…act like…one!"

The reaction is immediate, but eventually the metal man reaches forward with shaking hands and gentle places them on the kids body. A brief urge to whack them away rises up, but she suppresses it. He's in control now, not them. A light lights up from underneath his hands and data starts appearing on his screen, a list of injuries…

…damn, kid is a tougher than she thought…

She pushes herself onto shaky feet, carefully not harm fragile object wrapped in her arms. The rains stopped falling now…

The robot makes a move to remove the boy from her arms but the look she gives him quickly removes that idea from his CPU. She has all the right to be protective as well, he computes, considering what had happened. She's clutching him for dear life and isn't going to let go until there safely in the child's residence.

He considers his options. Then makes the logical choice. As soon as his- no, he has failed. The kid was not his anything, but as soon as he was healed, the robot will leave. There was no excuse for what he had done, and the punishment should be just for the actions. The relationship they had was broken. The child had been somewhat kind to him. Kinder than most, Although a little strange about the medical machine walking around doing the small jobs asked of him.

The Mamimi girl who gave him his name and called him a God once mentioned some kind of brother-brother relationship.

He didn't understand much of what she meant, but he knew that brothers protect brothers. He had failed, had done the exact opposite, nearly killing his…smaller brother.

There was no other logical option.

Unfortunaly for the robot, his CPU didn't take in either of the others two's reactions or thoughts to what he had decided to do.

The Medical tin man would learn the hard way that the logic isn't always right.

The hard way being shouting. Lots of shouting.

And a few hits with the Rickenbacker guitar.

"Come on…Let's go home…" is the hoarse and quiet whisper from her lips.

Nothing amazing happened on the way back…


End file.
